1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to controlling a power-reduction mode of a device, and, more particularly, to a method, apparatus, and system for providing an adaptive implementation of a power-savings mode of a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices, such as computer systems, telephonic devices, personal data assistants (PDAs), and the like, use a significant amount of power during operations. Various portions of these devices may be idle for extended periods of time, resulting in exceeding amounts of power consumption. These devices include various peripheral and/or critical components, such as monitors, displays, hard drives, CD/DVD drives, and the like. During periods of idle modes, many of these peripheral and/or critical components may be placed in power-reduction or power-save modes. The power-save modes may include dimming display screens, slowing an operation speed of a component, stopping the spinning of a hard drive, etc.
Often, computer devices are sent into a power-save mode after a prolonged period of idleness. During a power-save or a power-reduction mode, various peripheral devices associated with the computer device are placed in a power down or sleep mode. For example, the monitor of a computer device may be dimmed or effectively turned off after a predetermined amount of idle time. Similarly, other devices, such as cellular telephones, pagers, PDAs, and the like, may implement a power-save mode where the screens of these devices are dimmed or turned off. Another example of a power-save mode may include the power down mode of a hard disk, wherein the hard disk stops spinning after a certain amount of idle time. Often, these power-save modes are implemented into remote devices, such as battery operated devices, including laptop computers, cell phones, personal digital assistants, PDAs, etc. However, power-save modes may also be useful in saving power for non-battery operated devices, such as desktop computers, mainframes, and the like.
Turning now to FIG. 1, a flowchart depicting a prior art process flow for a power-save mode for a device is illustrated. Initially, a device is activated for various operations particular to the type of device (block 110). During the operation of the device, an idle period may be monitored to determine if a predetermined time period has elapsed during which the device is in an idle mode (block 120). The idle mode may include various situations, such as no data being entered into a computer system, no extraction of data from a computer system, no activity relating to the interface of a cellular telephone or a PDA, and the like. When the idle time is monitored, the device may make a determination whether the idle time, or the time period associated with the idle time, has exceeded a predetermined threshold (block 130). For example, if a device is in an idle mode for greater than three minutes, the device may be placed into a power-save mode, where various portions of the device may be shut down or placed into a sleep mode (block 140). Upon a determination that the idle time has not exceeded the threshold required for entering a power-save mode, the idle time may be continuously monitored. The initiation of the power-save mode may include dimming a monitor, stopping the spin of a hard disk or a CD ROM drive, reducing the majority of the operations of a transmission circuit in a cellular telephone, and/or the like.
One problem associated with state-of-the-art power-save modes in various devices includes the fact that the power-save mode may turn off a particular function associated with a device that a user may desire to be active at that time. For example, when the display associated with the computer devices dims or darkens, the user may be unable to read it even though the user was actually using the data displayed on the display device without actively interfacing with the computer system. As another example, if the hard drive of a computer system stops spinning, the next time the user requires data from the hard drive, an additional delay may occur before the user can acquire the desired data. These delays may cause various distractions and/or annoyances when a user interfaces a particular device.
In order to address this problem, designers have provided the user with the ability to turn off or modify the idle time threshold before a particular device enters into a sleep mode. However, there are additional problems associated with this methodology. One problem includes the fact that the user may forget to re-implement the idle power-save mode to its original state, thereby leaving open the possibility that the device will not subsequently implement an efficient power-save mode. This may result in wasted power or an unanticipated reduction in battery life associated with the device. A user may forget to reinstate the idle time and because of such an oversight, the user may be reluctant to modify the idle time associated with the power-save mode. Therefore, the user may be forced to endure distractions and annoyances associated with the power-save modes that may shut down a portion of a device, even though the user was using the device.
The present invention is directed to overcoming or at least reducing one or more of the problems set forth above.